Chapter 382: Toward the Past: Spreading the Legend of the Dragon Across the Universe

Reverse the flow of time!

This was the new ability that had appeared on the Ability Panel!

Previously, he had not understood why a mysterious Time Changhe had appeared within his Ability Panel space.

Now, however, he understood!

Because, driven by the Ability Panel, he was about to step onto the reversed Time Changhe, return to the past, and leave behind a legend belonging to himself in that past.

He did not know how the beings within this universe broke through to the next realm, nor what that next realm was actually called.

But he did know clearly how he himself should break through!

That was to continuously advance upstream along the reversed Time Changhe, leaving behind a legend belonging to himself within the Time and history of this universe—a legend belonging solely to him: the 【Legend of the Dragon】!

When his legend had spread to a certain extent, and his own accumulation had grown powerful to a certain extent, all the power of legend would converge, truly manifesting the illusory legend into real, unmistakable power! Forging a colossal body that spanned across the Time Changhe!

This mysterious realm, whose name he did not know, was no longer measured by the size of one's physical body beneath the Xingkong or the strength of one's energy, but began to involve a portion of Time; they were measured by the size of their 【body】 upon the Time.

And this was why he had once seen, upon the Time Changhe, one colossal body after another spanning across the "surface," standing unmoved beneath the rushing currents of the Time Changhe!

They were all terrifying existences who had long since broken through to that mysterious realm, and among them the 【Chen Long】 with whom he had interacted several times was an outstanding figure within this realm.

He now also understood clearly why even his remote and obscure Ya Kong Jian still circulated legends belonging to the Dragon, and how the beings bearing its bloodline had spread across an unknown breadth of the Xingkong.

Because the strength of this realm was measured by the size of one's "body upon the Time Changhe," and to become even stronger, one had to make one's body stronger, sturdier, and larger!

To make one's body upon the Time Changhe stronger than that of ordinary beings, there was only one method!

Spread one's legend more widely than that of ordinary beings, and at the same time make it more powerful—best to dominate era after era through one's own strength alone, so that every being in the universe knew of it, so that all feared your existence, so that wherever you went all spirits submitted—you would be the Banzhu of the universe, you would be an invincible existence!

Until the true breakthrough!

At that time, the body of time and space forged from endless supreme legends would be the strongest within this realm!

This was a realm destined to have only one supreme strongest; after all, to make one's legend ever more powerful, one had to thoroughly occupy era after era that endured, defeat countless beings within those eras, achieve absolute invincibility, become the nightmare of every being in the universe—only then could one forge the strongest, sturdiest, most invincible body of time and space!

Of course, this was the step-by-step method of breaking through in an orderly manner; if his luck exploded and he directly obtained higher-level abilities in the past, he could also directly leap over this long accumulation, plunder others' legends, seize others' karma, reverse cause and effect, and become one of that realm.

The path was never fixed in stone.

However, everything required a source point as its premise—required that special thing containing the source point, as well as the "karma" of the past.

In Baichuan's eyes, the source point was now omnipotent; with a source point, almost anything he wanted could be obtained.

Fortunately, he still had four points now…

Lost in thought, Baichuan opened the panel; gazing at the familiar panel, he slowly tapped 【Drivable…】

In an instant, the panel directly popped up a prompt:

"Confirm activation?"

"Yes!"

In an instant, accompanying Baichuan's confirmation, one source point vanished.

The sound of surging, turbulent waters rose beside Baichuan's ears.

At the same time, an extremely heavy, nearly irresistible gravitational force swept toward Baichuan, dragging down the body that had been hovering above the Time Changhe, making it truly come into contact with the Time Changhe, which had suddenly become tempestuous.

Endless, boundless information surged and gathered without cease—it was every change occurring at this moment in every place throughout the entire universe—bearing a weight that Baichuan could not currently endure, as if it would batter his spirit and consciousness until they collapsed.

Yet all of this was driven away by the mysterious power coiled around Baichuan's dragon body, leaving only a half-section of a finger-bone phantom that Baichuan found familiar floating before his eyes; it then shattered, transforming into two pictures that slowly unfolded. The first:

Warfire billowed; within a boundless, profound Xingkong, a fragment of broken yet still vast land drifted alone through the starry sky, as if shattered by some being advancing with absolute power,

Above the land fragment stood a slightly illusory, dragon-headed humanoid being, its crimson eyes blazing in a guarding posture upon the land fragment, roaring toward the heavens; around its body countless limbs and claws of twisted beings clung to it, as if trying to pull it into the Abyss.

And outside the land fragment, all was darkness; one after another, figures exuding powerful auras, like gods or demons, peered in; among them were mysterious ancient ships as vast as stars, shadows of insects blanketing the dark Xingkong, sacred figures standing high within a shroud of mist holding ancient wooden Changqiang, and fearsome colossal beasts as large as planets…

The second picture shifted to reveal the scene within the land fragment:

Within a ruined mansion, endless blood exuding scorching auras nearly formed a river; upon that river of blood floated countless corpses, and upon each corpse the symbols of dragon-kind were faintly visible.

At the end of that river of blood, a dragon-headed humanoid figure coiled in the deepest part of the mansion, its claws reaching forward; that dragon head glaring in fury yet faintly carrying within a trace of unwillingness and helplessness.

And before it stood one after another pitch-black, ink-like shadows of demons and beasts standing within the river of blood; some were wildly laughing, some extended sharp fingers to mock and point at that dragon-headed humanoid figure, and some greedily gulped the thick water of the blood river, chewing upon those corpses bearing dragon-kind features.

Finally, an indistinct being carried away a small, slender young dragon…

As the pictures slowly faded, a roar imbued with endless hatred and fury suddenly thundered forth:

Hate! Hate! Hate!

Kill! Kill! Kill!

At this moment, Baichuan suddenly gained a flash of insight: the pictures that had appeared were the experiences of this section of Mysterious Finger Bone; the owner of this bone was a being deeply connected to dragons, even a Dragon Species itself!

And at some period in the past, in a corner of the universe, this Dragon Species and its world had for some unknown reason been spied upon and attacked by a group of powerful beings; based on the aura Baichuan had previously sensed from the finger bone, the attackers were undoubtedly beings of the True Immortal realm, yet they had still died miserably at the hands of those demon and beast shadows—the enemies must have been unimaginably powerful, not to mention the endless peering figures in the Xingkong beyond the shattered land…

Those were the true great enemies!

Setting aside other things, those powerful beings and entities Baichuan had never seen—merely those beast shadows as vast as planets—at a single glance Baichuan knew clearly that they were the mysterious Star Beast he had always heard of!

This Dragon Species, this world—really didn't know what it had done, to the point that even the legendary, immensely mysterious and rare Star Beast had come to join the fray…

Was this the being whose karma he was to usurp? Why did this opening feel a bit too hellish?

"No matter who you are, holy one, help me slaughter all these defiant wretches, and find, find back my beloved daughter—whatever you desire, take it all…"

Lost in thought, an extremely faint voice suddenly reached Baichuan's ear; though the voice carried a thick sense of weakness and helplessness, it was exceptionally resolute, even carrying a hint of pleading.

"Oh~"

This was the voice of that dragon-headed being? They were holding a conversation across Time under the effect of the Ability Panel? Truly somewhat shocking for a dragon…

Baichuan came back to his senses, his mind racing with thoughts, yet his expression remained impassive as he said: "Everything?"

"Even if you cease to exist from then on, with no trace of you left anywhere in the entire universe from the karma?"

"Yes! As long as you can slaughter all those defiant wretches and find back my young beloved daughter…"

Though the voice replying to Baichuan was even weaker, it remained decisive and firm; though it tried its utmost to remain calm, it still carried a towering hatred and killing intent that even Baichuan could clearly feel!

That was the resolve to pay any price to make these invaders pay!

Within Duan Yu Jie, the dying Shi Long ignored the various figures peering from the side, his gaze lowered as it swept over the endless corpses within the mansion, awaiting the arrival of impending death—they were all his disciples and grandchildren, yet now all had perished in battle in this great chaos…

He regretted, he hated, and yet was powerless, able only to watch helplessly as his disciples and grand-disciples all died tragic deaths, and even his beloved daughter was taken away; he could only wait here as his Spirit slowly dispersed and vanished, and death came……

But just then, a mysterious voice, whose origin was utterly unknown, suddenly resounded within his heart. That voice told him that as long as he offered everything he had — flesh and blood, soul, karma, existence, all of it — It would replace him, become him, and fulfill his wishes.

He did not know whether this voice belonged to a god or a demon, but now that he had nothing left, he was willing to give everything; even if he ceased to exist forever, he would seize that last sliver of hope.

The great vengeance of his disciples and grand-disciples still awaited the Dragon Lord to exact it, and his daughter, who had been taken from him, was still waiting for her father to save her!

Bearing so much, how could he possibly fall here?

So he answered, no matter what awaited him ahead!

The master of the Mysterious Finger Bone answered.

Baichuan understood that it was now his turn to choose.

A hellish opening — how should he choose?

"If that is so, then from this moment the contract is established!"

Facing the other's plea, Baichuan spoke thus.

What was there to hesitate over? The worst hellish opening — in a certain sense, was it not also the most outstanding stage?

Such difficulty, with so many powerful beings gathered here — did it not further prove that this fragment of land possessed some exaggerated value and importance? So much so that even those terrifyingly powerful beings coveted and plundered it.

If he could fight his way out from among them, and thoroughly trounce that group of despairingly powerful beings, would he not in one stroke become utterly famous across this Xingkong, making countless beings remember him forever? Thus leaving behind a legend that belonged to him?

In any case, with several chances from the Source Points to try and fail, what was there still to fear?

Then, from this moment on, let the legend of Baichuan — 【Dragon's Legend】 — be spread throughout that bygone era!

For a moment, Baichuan too was seized by a surge of heroic spirit.

The next instant, the already surging Time Changhe abruptly fell still; from extreme motion to extreme stillness in only an instant — it was exceedingly strange and abrupt.

Then Baichuan saw the waves of that river of Time slowly part to either side, as though some powerful existence had arrived in person and the waters split in fear, or as though subjects yielded to their sovereign. A broad, open road appeared before Baichuan.

For no apparent reason, he gained a sudden enlightenment. The Dragon Claw standing on the river's surface began to step forward, each step leaving a footprint as he went upstream along this river of Time. With every stride, countless phantoms assailed him, like countless little hands tugging at him, trying to make him stop.

As though the past were not a domain ordinary beings could touch!

But all of this was blocked outside by the mysterious energy derived from Baichuan's Ability Panel; an immensely powerful thrust pushed Baichuan forward step after step, toward the past.

He suddenly understood what the "Can be driven……" on the Ability Panel meant…… it truly was driving him toward the past.

He did not know how many steps he had taken, yet it also seemed like only an instant. When Baichuan felt that thrust vanish, an intense wave of exhaustion immediately swept over his heart, and then his vision went black as he fell completely into the Time Changhe.

At this, the Time Changhe, no longer having a dragon walking upstream, returned once more to its former swift current, rushing ceaselessly toward the future. Here, the silence untouched by any living being was restored, as though everything that had just happened had never appeared at all.

Only some powerful beings who spanned the surface of the Time Changhe, with their keen perception, seemed to have sensed something, and guessed that it was some being beyond Their imagination stepping into the Time Changhe. The moment this guess arose, it so shocked Them that They shut Their perceptual gaze, lest they offend that mysterious and magnificent existence.

Because a being who could truly toy with the Time Changhe was absolutely not someone that they — 【Star Lords】 who had only just gathered an 【Indestructible Body of Ten Thousand Laws】 and stood upon the Time Changhe to achieve eternity — could afford to provoke.

"Truly a terrifying and yet enviable existence……"

At the former site of Lan Hai Xing, Zishu, slightly disheveled, quietly withdrew his gaze and, a rare occurrence, exclaimed in awe.

He had only just realized he had been schemed against by that little dragon whelp, drawing the attention of some offspring of a Star divine race. Before Zishu could finish dealing with the Divine King's phantom, that mysterious and yearning River of Time had undergone a change unseen for untold tens of thousands of years—

A great, ancient being that transcended Time had descended, walking backward against Time toward an unknown place, seemingly plotting something.

This was a situation unseen in untold millions of years. Now, with the death of 【Chen Long】, the Quanyan he held scattered away, it had appeared once more!

Truly worthy of being the greatest prosperous age the Family Head spoke of!

This is the best of times, with countless opportunities constantly appearing; yet at the same time it is the worst of times, for countless beings carrying the bloodlines of primordial divine beasts beyond the imagination of ordinary creatures — and even ancient beings, variables…… — will also appear.

He particularly remembered that the last time such a terrifying upheaval occurred was when 【Chen Long】 was born. Back then, 【Chen Long】, with the strength of a single dragon, crushed all the outstanding talents, seized the sole opportunity, yet for some unknown reason ultimately gave it up……

Now, 【Chen Long】 was dead, the prosperous age was about to arrive, and he finally had the chance to contend for that supreme power……

Having obtained countless supreme treasures in advance, he believed this would surely be his era!

He stakes the name of Zishu!

……

(End of chapter)